CO2 output from shipping twice as much as airlines - Guardian

[Eugene]

CO2 output from shipping twice as much as airlines


· Maritime emissions not covered by Kyoto accord
· Studies suggest 75% rise in 15 years as trade grows

John Vidal, environment editor
Saturday March 3, 2007
The Guardian

Carbon dioxide emissions from shipping are double those of aviation and increasing
at an alarming rate which will have a serious impact on global warming, according
to research by the industry and European academics.

Separate studies suggest that maritime carbon dioxide emissions are not only higher
than previously thought, but could rise by as much as 75% in the next 15 to 20 years
if world trade continues to grow and no action is taken. The figures from the oil
giant BP, which owns 50 tankers, and researchers at the Institute for Physics and
Atmosphere in Wessling, Germany reveal that annual emissions from shipping range
between 600 and 800m tonnes of carbon dioxide, or up to 5% of the global total.
This is nearly double Britain's total emissions and more than all African countries
combined.

Carbon dioxide emissions from ships do not come under the Kyoto agreement or any
proposed European legislation and few studies have been made of them, even though
they are set to increase.

-snip-

The estimate supports other academic studies which, until now, have been dismissed
as "extreme", because the industry fears that emissions regulations will be forced
on it if it is not seen to be addressing the issue. "The International Maritime
Organisation (IMO) needs to come up with an emissions strategy, or it will be down
to us," said Mr Gregory. "Aviation is in the firing line now but shipping needs to
take responsibility. There will be increasing pressure to do something."

-snip-

Full article: http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,2025726,00.html

[NNadir]

1. Recommended.

[kestrel91316]

2. BUY LOCAL!!!!!

[NYC]

3. We outsource our jobs, and buy stuff from China.

I wish we could buy local. It has become so difficult.

Unfortunately, the people who outsource our jobs are not the people who pay for the pollution.

[lakeguy]

4. buy less stuff and then buy local...

i'm not saying it's easy, but it can be done....at least in some places anyway.

[NYC]

5. I buy less stuff.

Buying local seems impossible. I bought a Canadian kitchen cabinet. It was as local as I could get. When I can't buy American, I buy Canadian. After that, I work my way through countries that pay a living wage.

It's not easy, but I keep trying.

[Gregorian]

6. Interesting. Thanks for posting.

I certainly didn't know this. I find it difficult to believe. There is more shipping going on than we realize.

[GliderGuider]

7. Be careful - thus ignores relative payload considerations.

The emissions per payload ton-mile of ships is an order of magnitude less than aircraft. The problem is, a global industrial civilization doesn't just move a lot of cargo, it moves a metric shitload of cargo. If you're going to do that, ships are da bomb. If you're looking for something to do the same job cheaper (in GHG costs) good luck. The only way to reduce right now is to ship less stuff.

[XemaSab]

13. Word. It's comparing apples to oranges.

If I flew to Sydney, I would emit x tons of CO2.

If I shipped all my stuff to Sydney, I would emit y tons of CO2.

Which is more efficient, greenhouse gas-wise, x or y? :shrug:

What about the weight of the other cargo or passengers versus the amount of CO2?

Would it be better for the environment for me to fly there and buy all new stuff?

There are too many variables in play to compare shipping to flying. :P

[Dead_Parrot]

14. I must be getting old...

When I went to school, we were still using the imperial shitload. :silly:

[XemaSab]

17. The imperial shitload went out with the slide rule and log tables

:eyes:

[Dead_Parrot]

21. Log tables are out !?

Dammit, no-one asked me about that. :(

[Lisa]

28. I remember having to convert between the two ... without calculators!

On the positive side, it's easy to remember that there are 1000 megashitloads in a gigashitload.

[amandabeech]

8. Because of the rise in diesel prices, some ship are converting

back to bunker C, the kind of goo that must be heated before being burned in some cases. It gives off even more CO2 per mile.

Consider, too, that if we are at or near peak oil, the price of shipping will only go up. Depending on long supply lines may not only be bad for the atmosphere, it may also become impossibly expensive.

[achtung_circus]

9. Until ship sprout sails again. nt.

[amandabeech]

10. Actually, there is some work going on in Europe for large,

tethered sails, not ones on masts, for use in the Atlantic routes. The sails are used as supplements, not as the sole source of propulsion.

The tall ships are gorgeous, but I doubt that the near future will bring them back.

[file83]

11. I was reading a National Geographic from 1978 (or so) and there was an article

about cargo ships using huge mechanical sails (wings really) to help reduce their need for fuel by almost 50%!!!

I was reading that and wondering why the hell that never panned out. I mean, if it worked, WTF? Mind you, the photo in the article was of a real ship, it wasn't painted or anything (this was 1978, so no Photoshop).

[XemaSab]

16. The biggest container ships weigh about 150,000 tons

If I was a slightly better physicist I could calculate the amount of sail needed to propel a ship like that, but I am too inept at math. Any takers? :shrug:

Even a smaller ship would need a huge amount of sail. Keeping the mast from snapping, storing the sail when travelling against the wind, and other factors would seem to preclude the return of the sail.

[achtung_circus]

18. Replace, no; supplement, sure.

And how much energy is used in moving hydrocarbons to China to be turned into plastic to be moved to Wal-Mart?

[bananas]

25. kite sails

http://www.dcss.org/speedsl/whyk.html


http://www.kiteship.com/marine.php

[One_Life_To_Give]

27. Sails won't work well at the speeds they run at

The big container ships are reporting top speeds of 25kts. I don't think we can get a sail design to work with speeds more than about half that.

But for reference I computed 50-100,000 square meters of sail area needed for a 150,000 ton displacement vessel. Or alternatively to replace the 14 cylinder Wartsila with wind energy would require around 4000 square meters at 100% energy extraction.

Of note we shoiuld remember that the sail powered freighters were all put out of buisiness by the coal fired steam piston powered ships. Sail couldn't compete in payload and speed. Both of which have only become better with technology.

The cost of the ship and crew are fixed per year and divided over the total cargo carried over the course of the year. Cut her speed in half and those costs will double. Would have to do some more calculations to determine how expensive fuel must become before it woul be cheaper to run at half speed. And that assumes the ship under sail could still be handled by a crew of 13.

[razzleberry]

12. there is no shortage of coal .....n/t

[rman]

15. The peak-oil induced run on coal won't make it any cheaper,

nor any cleaner. It can be made cleaner, but that to won't make it any cheaper.
So yes; prepare for a rise of the cost of food, commodities and travel.

[amandabeech]

19. At some point, it may pay to move whatever manufacturing is still

going back closer to the customers.

Over Christmas, I visited my mom for two weeks. She has no internet and only two TV stations out in the sticks. To pass the time, I started reading the old World Book encyclopedias. Under the "Transportation" entry, World Book stated that it was not economic to transport goods more than 1,200 miles generally. The article dated from the late 1950s. At some point, we will face those constraints again.

For what it's worth, another article from the same set stated that oil was a finite resource and that we should conserve it because it is so important to our lives. Prescient, no?

[NobleCynic]

20. Yeah, but flying is a luxury

Shipping is a little more necessary.

Every little bit helps though, and anything we can do to reduce emissions from shipping should be done. Hopefully without having to reduce the tonnage shipped. Efficiency, newer hull designs, etc. I heard something about a new paint that prevents barnacle growth, which causes massive drag. I can't remember where I saw it though.

[XemaSab]

22. Barnacles

have the longest penises in the animal kingdom.

What are you, a penis-hating feminist? x(

[Dead_Parrot]

23. I hope you mean "in proportion to thier size"

Or I'm really going to have a number of issues.

[XemaSab]

24. Proportionally

:D

[Dead_Parrot]

26. That's alright, then...

Mind you, earwigs' are pretty hefty (nearly the length of the body) and they have two of 'em.

-What has the study of biology taught you about the Creator, Dr. Haldane?
-I'm not sure, but He seems to be inordinately fond of beetles.

You're not kidding. :D